Flashover
by SAR132-4
Summary: Leah was a firefighter before joining the SRU. She's lost team members and gained friends, this is her story as she fights just more than fires. Rated T for later possible violence/rushing into burning buildings.
1. Chapter 1

It was dawn in Toronto, the sun rose over the horizon, bathing the city in a golden light. Three homeless men were squatting inside an abandoned warehouse, "Hey," one said to the other across the small fire they built in a barrel, "Gimme some of that."

The other man, who was eating a burger chucked into the dumpster outside, shook his head, "Finders keepers."

The man leapt across the fire, knocking the barrel into a pile of crates and wrestling the man.

"Uh, guys," the third homeless man said, "Fire."

The crates had quickly gone up, the men ran out of the building, "Shit," the first man said.

* * *

Dawn in Toronto and already the fire services were already hard at work, getting ready for another shift.

Leah Kerns walked into the briefing room of Station Three Hundred Thirty Two, known as the South Command. As she rushed in, the team looked up, six men and one female consisted of the team at the table. One of the men was standing at the head of the room, appearing to be talking.

"Leah, nice of you to join us today," Captain Andy Montag greeted as he looked up from the briefing. Everyone else looked up as well.

Leah nodded back as she took a seat, "Sorry Captain, I got caught up in traffic."

"Ah, that crazy downtown traffic," Montag shook his head, "Very well then," he said rubbing the stubble on his chin as he looked over a few files, "Training later this afternoon if we don't have any emergencies or people stuck in traffic," he cast Leah a meaningful glance, "We'll patrol this morning."

"Yes sir," everyone at the table said as they stood up, suddenly the alarms blared and the dispatcher's voice came over the PA system.

"Gear up. Smoke reported in a warehouse on Queen's Quay Avenue," the dispatcher listed off directions and the team burst into action.

Leah quickly pulled on the flame resistant heavy jacket and buttoned up, the other woman on the team was getting ready next to her, "Time to save a few kittens from trees," the blonde quipped as they slid down the pole.

"Wouldn't have it any other way," Leah answered as she slid down next to the woman, "Let's go."

The team piled into Platform 432, Captain Montag kept up almost constant dialogue with the team, "Alright, we have a floor plan?"

"Sending it over to your phone now sir," the dispatcher said as he clicked the send button on an email.

Andy glanced down and nodded, "Alright, we have a few doors up here, plenty areas for the fire to spread," he sighed angrily, "I hate warehouses. Flashover risk is high, take caution in entering."

"Yes sir," Leah and the others said.

The man driving the truck sped up and swerved onto the street, "Almost there."

"Thanks for that Snowden," Andy huffed as he straightened himself out, "Let's go save some lives."

The driver, Johnny Snowden, whooped out loud and pulled to a stop in front of the warehouse. Tendrils of smoke rose from openings in the roof and broken windows. Leah took a look with the rest of the team, "No visible flames, must be coming from the inside of the warehouse."

"Warehouse is abandoned," Matt Wilson said, "Homeless guys probably use it as a place to squat, pretty chilly out here."

"Start a fire to keep warm, it gets out of control," Kim, the woman, shook her head, "All Hell breaks loose . . ."

"Come on," Andy said, "Let's find the source. There might be homeless people in there as well. Leah, Johnny, Ben and Jake, you guys enter the building and search for the source. If you guys separate, stay in pairs, we're not losing anyone today. Kim, Matt and Greg, stay out here and see if there are any outside sources."

"Yes sir," they all said as they moved out to their positions, Jake connected the hose to the hydrant as Leah, Johnny and Ben moved to grab tools from the truck. A series of explosions rocked the building and the team ducked as flaming debris came down all over them.

Shouts and yells rent the cold air and the loudest was Andy, "What the HELL was that?" he screamed at the team. Flames were bursting out of the windows.

"There's probably still gas running through the pipes, the place is a bomb," Jake said as he finished hooking up the hose, "We've got to get the fire under control."

"Change of plans," Andy said, "Leah, Jake, you two handle the hose. Johnny, Kim you two will search the warehouse for victims. This situation is volatile and the structural integrity of the building is questionable. If you guys feel it's too big of a risk, then get out of the building fast."

"Yes sir," they all answered, Andy ran into the cab of the truck and grabbed the radio.

He spoke calmly and evenly into the radio, "This is Ladder 432, requesting assistance at a warehouse explosion . . ."

Leah and Jake stood to the side of the door as Johnny and Kim glanced at the space between the door and the ground. Tendrils of smoke were puffing out and back into the space.

"Flashover," Kim said, referencing the dangerous situation where the fire had taken up all available oxygen in a room and now was waiting for a fresh source. This would be an open door.

"Three, two, one," Kim opened the door quickly and backed off. A few seconds later, a burst of flame shot through the door way, just where Kim had been standing.

Leah sprayed the hose at the ceiling of the room in short bursts, cooling the air around the fire so it had no place to spread. The flames in the room were finally controlled enough for Johnny and Kim to enter quickly. Johnny carried an extinguisher with him and Kim had the axe.

Visibility had been reduced to near zero in the building, suffocating smoke had filled the air but Leah and the rest of the team had their oxygen tanks and masks on. Leah and Jake systematically went through the building, checking doors and rooms for the fire. They saw the main blaze within the main floor of the warehouse.

"I don't like the looks of this," Jake said to Leah as they started spraying the area around the fire, "Looks bad, the fire's hot enough to melt the steel," as if to accent his point, a beam groaned and gave way in the intense heat, collapsing part of the ceiling.

"Yeah," Leah said, the room was hot and sweat was pouring down her face, "Alright, let's fall back. Kim? Johnny?"

There was no response on the radio.

Suddenly they heard the high shrieking noise of PASS alarms going off off, "Shit, "Jake muttered, he turned and ran off in the direction of the noise, "Cap?"

Andy's voice came over the radio, "Yeah Jake, what's going on in there?"

"I heard the PASS go off, might be Johnny or Kim," Jake said as Leah ran behind him with the hose, "Leah, go for the direct attack on the main blaze," Jake said.

Suddenly the radio crackled, "Jake! Leah!" Kim's voice interjected over the radio, "A part of the ceiling collapsed on Johnny! I can't see him anywhere, I got hit in the arm pretty bad. We need help here."

"Copy that," Jake said as he saw Ben and Matt run up behind them, Leah handed Matt the hose as Ben stayed by him.

The two ran up to the area where the PASS alarms went off, "Kim! Johnny!" Jake and Leah shouted over the noise of the fire and the groans of the structure.

"This is bad, this is bad, bad, bad," Jake muttered as he located the owner of the PASS device, "Kim!"

"I'm okay," Kim grunted and winced as her arm throbbed in pain, "Alright, maybe _not_ okay."

Leah took a look at it, the material of her jacket had withstood the force of the collapse but her arm was bent at a strange angle, "Your arm's broken," she said as she took the debris off of Kim, "I'll help you out. Think you can hold your own Jake?"

"Yeah, I'm good," Jake said as he looked around for Johnny, "Just get some help in here quick, okay?"

"Got it," Leah said as she helped Kim walk out of the building.

As they neared the exit, the heat got intense to the point that fires were flashing up from when the materials reached their flashpoint. Leah kept walking as she sweated more and more, dehydration, despite it being the middle of winter, was a very real risk.

Suddenly she heard a high pitched whistling noise and she also saw the door, "Run!" she yelled as a storage tank of gas began shaking from the heat, it was about to explode.

Leah and Kim were both followed by a huge fireball as they jumped out the door and landed on the cold asphalt. A few other firefighters ran up to them, men that Leah had recognized from Company 12. Their back up had arrived.

"Kerns!" a man shouted as he helped her up, "You okay?"

"Yeah, good," Leah said as she stood up and began walking to the truck, "Jake needs help in there, southeast corner."

"Got it," the man said as he ran into the building.

Kim grunted in pain as another firefighter helped her to an ambulance, Andy ran up to both of them, "What the hell happened in there?"

"There must have been good fuel, the place was a nesting area for the homeless, the fire grew hot and fast. It compromised the structure of the building," Leah said, "Southeast corner collapsed."

Andy sighed and rubbed his temples, "Jake and Johnny. Are they still in there?"

"Yeah Cap," Leah nodded as she looked at the burning structure, "They're still in there."

Andy put his helmet on and pointed to the staging area, "Get there and get some water, you look like Hell."

Leah walked to the staging area where the South Command chief was taking over as incident commander, "Get the media to another area," he shouted to some of the police who had gathered there to keep control of the crowd, "I need hoses on that east wall, get that fire under control!"

He looked over at Leah, "What's it like in there?"

Leah told the chief what she had told her captain, the man shook his head and started ordering another captain, "Get those men out of the building," he said, "I don't want anyone in or out until the fire's under control and the engineers say we can reenter."

"Yes sir," he said and he walked away, speaking into his radio, "Everyone get out of there . . ."

Leah looked over at the ambulances where Kim was fighting with the paramedics. One of them was trying to keep Kim on the stretcher, "Ma'am, your arm is broken, we can't let you get back out there."

"Just splint it and give me some pain meds," she argued, "I've got to get back to work!"

"You can't, you're in no shape for working now," the paramedic said calmly as he forced her back into a laying position, "Now let us get you stabilized before you hurt yourself anymore."

Kim growled and finally signed in defeat, she glared at her feet as the paramedics bandaged her up and rolled her into the ambulance. The paramedics slammed the doors shut and as the ambulance screamed away, Leah heard a giant crack from behind her.

Over the din of the fire, shouting, hoses and sirens, Leah could hear the groan of the steel protesting under the intense heat. The structure was collapsing, it was like slow motion. Firefighters ran out of the building, shouting to each other and to the air. One of them had tripped and another one rushed passed, grabbing his jacket and dragging him to safety as the building began to crumble.

Leah scanned the faces of the terrified firemen who ran out of the building, Jake and Johnny were nowhere to be found.

**Anyway, there needs to be some good Leah fiction here and I wanted to mess around with some of my own OCs, :) Win-win situation. **

**I don't own Flashpoint and I will own nothing except my OCs for the duration of this fan fiction. **


	2. Chapter 2

"God dammit!" Matt yelled, punching the nearest wall, "This didn't have to happen," he growled as he paced the waiting room of the hospital.

Jake sat in a chair, bandages tightly wound against his face and arm. He stared blankly at the wall opposite of him, it was something that everyone recognized, the thousand-yard stare. He was trying to escape the chaos around him, by shrinking into his mind.

Andy shook his head, "Matt," he said calmly, looking up the five foot seven man, "Sit down."

"You sent them in there!" Matt's voice got quieter but not softer, "You could have prevented this, why didn't you?"

Ben stood up between the two, "Hey, hey! Calm down everyone. Look at what you're saying to your captain, Matt."

"I know damn well what I'm saying," Matt said dangerously, "He's no leader to me if he gets Johnny killed."

"The doctors haven't come out and said that yet," Ben glared at Matt, "Now sit the hell down or I'll pull rank on you."

Matt slowly sat in a chair as Ben backed away and leaned against an opposite wall. A few minutes later, the door opened and the whole team looked up to see a man in scrubs and a lab coat.

"Is this the family of John Snowden?" he asked solemnly, he looked tired and like he was about to bring very bad news.

Andy stood up, "We're the only guys he's got at the moment," he said, "So, yes, we are."

The doctor looked around the room, "Perhaps we should take this to a place a bit more private," he said.

"I don't see anyone but us here," Andy retorted and it was true, the waiting room was vacated except for them.

The doctor took a deep breath, "I'm sorry," he said to the whole team, "There was nothing we could do."

Jake left the room in a huff, he couldn't take this. Kim shook her head, "I could have pulled him out of the way, I could have saved him," she said quietly.

Matt glared at Kim and Andy, "We can't even save one of our own," he yelled as he stood up, "Dammit!" he stalked towards the captain. Ben begun to push himself away from the wall when Leah stepped in between them.

"Stop it," she said calmly, her words seemed to reach Matt and Ben because they slowly relaxed their positions, "Alright, if you can't hold it in line Matt, get out. This is a hospital for goodness sakes. Ben, sit down."

Matt shrugged off Leah's hand and he stalked out of the door. Ben slowly sat in one of the hard plastic chairs and cradled his head in his hands.

Andy looked around the room, "I've got to call his parents," he said as he left the room.

Greg stood up and left the room, "I'm outta here," he said.

"What are you doing?" Ben asked as Greg was about to walk out the door.

Greg turned on Ben, "Does it make a difference, Johnny's dead, there's nothing I can do here."

Ben made to stand up before Leah placed a hand on his shoulder, "Just let him go."

Greg walked away from the room, rubbing his eyes.

Andy returned from the phone call, his eyes were red and puffy. He sat down hard in one of the chairs and Leah, Ben and Kim sat with him for the rest of the night until the parents came in. After hearing the news from the doctor, the mother and father collapsed against each other, crying. Andy sat there with them, comforting them as Leah, Kim and Ben stood in the hallway, watching from far away. Finally, Kim left, "This is too much."

Leah offered to drive her home.

The ride home was silent, there was nothing for them to say. Kim stared sullenly out the passenger's side window, her arm in a sling. Leah kept her eyes on the road, she glanced towards Kim finally and said, "This wasn't your fault Kim."

Kim didn't say anything, she just kept staring out the window as the neighborhood flashed by, "Kim," Leah started.

"This is my house," Kim said and Leah pulled over.

Leah leaned onto the glove compartment as Kim walked up the steps, "I'll see you tomorrow," Leah called as the door slammed shut.

Leah had no other place to go but home, she pulled into the parking lot, right next to her Harley. Normally after a tough day she'd take the motorcycle, a gift from her brother, out for a fast and furious ride through the streets of Toronto. Right now though, she was beyond tired, all she wanted to do was take a shower and sleep.

That's what she did. She went into her apartment, threw the keys on the counter and took a shower.

It was always known among firefighters that no matter how much you shower, the smell of smoke would never leave your skin. It was there forever, a constant reminder of what you do for a living.

Leah tried hard to scrub the soot off of her skin, she often joked that she used to be lighter than this. No one was laughing now. The water ran clear finally but the smell of smoke was still there. Leah got into a pair of sweats and a t-shirt, she staggered to the bed and flipped on the TV out of sheer habit.

The news station came up and the anchors were covering the warehouse fire, "Earlier yesterday, a fire and explosion at a warehouse killed a firefighter and injured four others. Fire services have the fire under control. We'll turn this over to Jeff Sanders for more coverage. Jeff?"

The screen switched to a middle aged reporter, he looked jaded, like he's covered things like these before, "Yes Christina. Smoke was reported issuing from this warehouse at 6 am, fire services sent an engine to investigate the fire and soon it was obvious this was a bigger fire than they initially thought-,"

Leah turned the TV off, she knew what happened, there was no need to go through that again. She turned off the light and slipped into a deep sleep . . .

_KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK. _

Leah opened her eyes she looked at the alarm clock, 3 pm. She laid in bed for a few minutes, wondering what woke her up. The persistent knocking sounded again so she got up and walked to the door.

Looking through the peep hole, she saw Jake standing there. He looked uncomfortable and like he hadn't slept in ages, which was close to the truth.

The firefighter opened the door, "Jake, what are you doing here?"

"I need to talk to someone," Jake admitted, "I tried the whole team. Andy's talking to the parents, Matt won't even talk to me, Ben's filling out reports, Greg's hit the bars and Kim won't even answer the door."

"Come in," Leah said, motioning Jake into the house, "You want a drink?"

Jake nodded, "Yeah, thanks."

Leah came back with two bottles of beer from the fridge, they drank in silence, Leah waiting for Jake to start off. And finally, he did.

"I could have saved him," Jake said softly, "He was right in front of me Leah, holding his hand out for help. I reached out, I tried to, but the damn structure collapsed. If I had been faster, I'd have saved him."

"Jake," Leah began slowly, "There was nothing you could have done differently to save Johnny. This isn't your fault."

"Really?" Jake said, "Cause I'm feeling pretty damn guilty right now."

They both sat in silence once more, reaching a point where Leah knew nothing she could say would help Jake at the moment. It was up to him to forgive himself.

Jake slowly got up, placing the now empty beer bottle on the table, "Thanks for the drink," he said as he grabbed his jacket and headed to the door.

"Wait, where are you going?" Leah asked as he got to the door.

"Home," Jake said as he opened the door, Leah quickly ran up and intercepted him.

"No way, you're impaired," Leah said, wrestling the keys from him, "Let me take you home."

"You drank a beer too!" Jake protested, trying to grab the keys back.

"Half a beer," she corrected as she led Jake out the door, "Come on, I'll drive you home."

Jake retorted, "I'm good, really!"

"You're practically impaired," Leah interjected as she lead him out of the building, "I'll drive you home, come on."

Leah went to Jake's car and they both got in, Jake on the passenger's side, Leah on the driver's side. "Thanks," Jake finally said, "For everything you know."

"Don't mention it," Leah said as she pulled out of the space and into the street, they drove in silence before Jake spoke again.

"Why don't you blame me?" he asked as he looked at the road, "Everyone else seems to."

Leah didn't take her eyes off the road as she answered, "Jake," she said evenly, "You didn't cause that building to collapse. I know you did the best you could and that's the only thing you can do."

Suddenly, someone ran up to the side of the car and waved for them to stop, "Help!" they shouted, "HELP!"

Leah quickly pulled over on the road right next to the lake, "What happened?"

"I don't know," the bystander said, panicked, "I lost control of the car, it must have hit black ice or something. I crashed into this other car and, oh god. Oh my god," the person was breaking down, "I swear it was an accident."

Leah tried to calm down the driver as Jake ran to the other car, he saw its sole occupant unconscious in the driver's seat. He listened to the man's labored breathing and looked up at Leah, "Have you called 911 yet?"

"Yeah," the driver said as he sat down heavily on the road, still in severe shock.

Jake shook his head, "Leah, get me the medical kit in the back seat, I think this guy has a pneumothorax," he yelled out.

Leah jogged to the car as Jake checked the man for any more signs of injury. Soon, the medical kit had reached him and he took out the stethoscope and listened for breathing, one side of the chest was completely silent.

"Yep," Jake said, "Leah, hand me the needle," Jake's gloved hand was outstretched.

He felt the cool plastic of the needle in his hand, he raised the man's shirt and jabbed the needle neatly into the chest, the sound of air issued from the tube. Jake stood back as the ambulance arrived and the paramedics took over.

"You knew what you were doing then?" a police officer asked Jake as he was interviewed at the scene of the accident.

Jake nodded, "Yeah," he said crossing his arms, "I'm a firefighter."

"Good job on that warehouse fire yesterday," the officer said, "My condolences," he said as he closed the note pad and walked away. Jake nodded and left as well.

_**Four weeks later**_

The team sat at the table, ready to start another shift. Kim sat next to Matt, discussing extraction tools. Leah and Jake stood at the end of the room, not talking but looking over the room as Ben and Greg were discussing something else. Andy finally walked into the room with another man, a stranger to the team already gathered there.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Andy said as he introduced the man, "I'd like you to meet our newest member, transferred from Vancouver. Nicholas Harper, nice to have you on board."

"Please," the man said, "Call me Nick. I'm sorry for joining you guys under these circumstances," he took a deep breath, "I know what it's like to lose a teammate, only to have him be replaced. Don't hate me for it."

Nick felt very much disliked as he looked around the table after his speech and looked at the impassive faces that stared at him, "Look, it any of you want to talk, I'm open."

"No, we don't need to talk," Matt said sharply as he openly glared at Nick.

The alarm shrieked in the station, snapping everyone out of their individual thoughts, "Time to get to work!" Andy said as the team rushed out of the room, ready for their next job.


	3. Chapter 3

"Gear up," the dispatcher said, "Car accident at the parking garage on Wood Street."

The team burst into action, grabbing tools and heading to the truck. Nick took a seat in the back of the truck with Leah and Matt. Ben drove the truck with Andy in the passenger's seat.

"Alright, what's the situation?" Andy asked the dispatcher as they screamed off towards the location.

The dispatcher looked at the information he was given, "Looks like a man may have accelerated his vehicle after being rear ended. The car crashed through a wall and is now hanging over the street."

"If that's true we don't have a lot of time," Andy said as he nodded to Ben, who promptly sped up.

They arrived at the scene and saw a few ambulances and police cars already there, Andy spoke into the radio, "Dispatch, this is Ladder 432. We arrived on scene."

"Roger," the dispatcher said, logging the fire truck's location.

"Leah, Jake, Kim and Matt," he said pointing to the car hanging out of the garage, "Get up there and stabilize the car. Nick, Ben, clear out any non-essential personnel, I don't want anyone to get hurt doing something stupid."

The firemen nodded, heading off to their respective areas. Leah and her group rushed up the stairs with their tools, five flights of stairs later, they reached their floor and the scene of the accident.

Paramedics were standing by and taking care of an injured man who was sitting on the curb. A police officer was asking him what had happened.

"I'm not sure," the man said, "I can't remember, it was all a blur."

Leah and the rest of the team headed to the car that was perched precariously on the edge of the floor, hanging over the street. The front end was crushed from the impact on the concrete block it slammed through. Jake spotted the driver who was currently panicked as she saw her predicament.

"Alright," he said to the team gathered, "Leah, Kim, do what you can to stabilize the car, we need static rope, chocks, anything. Matt, get the Jaws we're going to extract her."

Leah and Kim searched their packs for ropes and chocks as Jake rushed to the car, he was careful not to do anything to mess up the equilibrium of the car as he opened the driver's side door in the back seat. He sat behind the woman as he pulled out a neck brace, "Alright ma'am, can you tell me your name?"

"C-Caitlin," the woman said as she tried in vain to keep calm, "Please, my baby's in the back seat."

Jake looked to his right, the baby wasn't there, "I'm sure the paramedics have them," he soothed, "Why don't you tell me your baby's name?"

"Jason," the woman said trying to breathe deeply and calm herself down. Not easy when in a wrecked car and hanging 5 stories above a busy street.

"That's a good name," Jake said to the woman, "My name's Jake. Can you tell me if you have pain anywhere?"

Caitlin winced and said, "Yes, my leg."

"Alright, anywhere else? Neck? Back?" Jake asked as he felt her pulse, it was a little fast but normal.

"No," Caitlin said blinking, "Just my right leg."

Jake nodded, "That's good," he said as he waved Matt over with the Jaws of Life, "Could you take over for me for a few minutes?"

"Yeah," Matt said as he set the tool down, "No problem."

Jake and Matt quickly switched places and Jake went off to the paramedics. He tapped a paramedic on the shoulder, "Excuse me sir, did you rescue a baby from the car?"

"Uh, no, there was no baby that we could see," the paramedic said, "The woman was unconscious at the time, we couldn't ask her."

Jake nodded, "If you see a baby," he started.

"We'll keep our eyes peeled," the paramedic said as he picked up his bag and made his way down the stairs.

Jake ran back to Leah and Kim, "You guys stabilized the car yet?"

"Yep," Leah said as she tied off the rear axle to the rope and tied it to a chain that attached to a pillar, "I'm good here."

"I am too," Kim said as she tied off another rope.

Jake nodded, "Kim, get into a harness and tie off, I need you on the wall, Matt, you go on the other side of the car."

"Got it," they both said as they harnessed up and tied off to the pillars. They leaned out over the road as they went over to the outside wall.

Jake took up the Jaws of Life, "Caitlin," he said to the driver, "We're going to cut you out now."

Leah sat inside the car and placed glasses on the woman and put in earphones, "We'll have you out in no time," Leah said as she got back out of the car.

The extraction was simple, Jake sliced through the posts that held up the roof of the car, then they peeled the roof back and placed Caitlin on a backboard. Kim and Matt both pushed the backboard towards Leah and Jake. The backboard cleared the wreck and Caitlin was secured in the safety of the ground.

Nick watched as the rescue unfolded on the upper levels of the garage, Ben had kept him busy on the ground, setting up tape and cones, they watched as the man was led out of the building. The paramedics set him in a stretcher and cut off his shirt. A nasty seatbelt bruise had set into his right shoulder and gone diagonally across his chest.

"Wait a minute," Nick ran to the paramedics, despite Ben's shouts.

"Was there anyone else in the car?" he asked the medics, they shook their heads.

The man in the stretcher retorted angrily towards Nick, "I was driving the car you idiot."

Nick shook his head, "If you were driving the car, then the bruise would be on the left shoulder, not the right. You were the passenger."

The man sighed, "Alright," he said, "So what if there was a driver?"

"He needs medical attention sir," Nick said calmly, "Tell us where he went or if he dies, this is going to be on you."

One of the medics looked up at Nick questioningly, as if asking why he'd place the blame on a man who was injured. Nick returned the gaze evenly.

"Look, all I know is that he wanted to take that baby from the car. It was his apparently," he said, "He paid me 50 bucks to sit in the driver's seat after the accident."

Nick looked over at a police officer who was standing by, he nodded, "I think I've heard enough."

"No one left the scene, right?" Nick asked.

The officer shook his head, "Didn't see anyone. I arrived 5 minutes after the perimeter was set up, you're going to have to talk to the incident commander for details. I'll go and alert other patrols about the child."

"Alright, thanks sir," the fireman left and ran up to Ben.

Ben was livid, "I was calling for you to fix the tape! What's your problem?"

"What's yours?" Nick retorted, "Ever since I've been on the job, you guys have treated me like an outsider. If we want to be successful, we stick together, like a team."

The superior officer was taken aback by Nick's comments and Nick continued, "I was questioning the man over there, apparently there was a baby in the car they hit. The driver took off with the baby. Apparently the driver's the father."

Ben looked around, "They'll both need medical attention if that's the case," he ran up to Andy, "Cap, the accident wasn't really an accident at all. It was staged so the father could kidnap his kid."

"What?" Andy asked, "No one's left the scene without my knowing, especially no one injured."

Nick's eyes widened, "He's probably still in the garage," he yelled, taking off.

"Wait!" Ben ran after Nick as they both entered the garage, "I swear . . ." he growled.

Andy shook his head and turned to a police officer, "There's an infant who was kidnapped by his father in the accident. I need you to block off the perimeter, no one leaves or enters, you got that?"

"Yes sir," the officer said as he ran off to the rest of his teammates.

Andy looked up at the garage, where Jake and Leah were securing Caitlin to the board and giving her oxygen. Jake heard a faint crying noise, "Hey, hey, everyone quiet."

The room fell silent as Jake held up his hand and listened hard, dark brown eyes scanned the area for the source of the sound.

"Sounds like it's coming from," Kim looked up.

"Above us," Jake finished.

Caitlin began hyperventilating, "That's Jason, I know his cries from anywhere!"

"I need you to relax," Leah said placing the oxygen mask gently on Caitlin's mouth and nose, "We'll get your son back."

Matt looked over at Leah, "Jake, we've got it handled here. You go up with Kim and take the medical kit."

"Kim, let's go," Jake said as they rushed up the stairs, the blonde followed closely behind the dark haired man as they went up a flight and burst into the parking deck. A man stood at the edge of the roof.

Jake and Kim both pulled up short as the man glared at them, he staggered a bit. "I'm not letting any of you get to my kid!"

"We've got to radio this in Jake," Kim said calmly, "It's pretty high up here."

"I think I can convince him to get down," Jake replied just as evenly, his heart rate was going at a mile a minute though.

"What the hell Jake! We're not the fucking SRU," Kim snapped from behind him, "Let them handle this!"

The shake of the head from the fireman in front of her signaled that her warnings were going unheeded, "You see that head wound Kim?" Jake pointed to the bleeding wound on the man's head, "He probably has a severe concussion, if he has a head bleed, we don't have five minutes before he goes over with Jason."

"Alright, but I will radio this in," Kim said as she walked off into the stairwell.

The man glanced uneasily at Kim's departure, "Hey? Where's she going?"

"She needs to get a medical kit," Jake said calmly, "My name's Jake, could you tell me yours?"

"Uhh, Hank," the man said as he staggered around a little on the wall, almost losing balance.

Jake started a little before calming down, "Hank, I need you to get off that wall alright? You have a pretty traumatic head injury there, it would be very bad if you lost consciousness and fell off. I'm pretty sure you don't want to die, do you?"

"No," Hank said, "Butyou'lltakeJason."

Jake heard the slurred speech, Hank was going downhill fast, "Hank," he said, "You've got to listen to me. That head wound is bad, I bet you have a head ache, sensitivity to light and you're a little unclear on the fine points, am I right?"

Hank nodded drowsily, "Yeah, that'sright."

Jake managed to get closer to Hank, "Okay," he said calmly, "Just take my hand and we'll step down from this ledge."

Hank slowly kneeled down and then lost consciousness, the car seat holding Jason fell and landed on the deck. Hank began convulsing and was going over the edge, Jake leaned forward and caught the man, "KIM!" he yelled, "_KIM!_"

Kim quickly ran and grabbed Jake's harness and pulled him and Hank to safety. Hank was still jerking around, which was a tough grip for Jake and Kim. Kim and Jake both hauled Hank up and onto the deck, Hank had stopped jerking and Jake laid the man on his side as he looked for a pulse. It was very weak and erratic, "He needs to get to a hospital quickly," Jake said.

Kim glared at him and slapped him, Jake reeled back and glared, "What the hell was that for?" he shouted as Kim got to her feet.

"You risked your life," Kim said, "Unnecessarily," tears began to form in her eyes, pricking them like needles, "I can't lose any of you guys, not after losing Johnny."

"Sorry Kim," Jake said as he looked behind her and saw the rest of the team running up.

"Jake! Kim!" Leah yelled, "Are you guys alright?"

"Yeah! We need to send this guy to the hospital though," Jake said as he looked at Hank, "He has a pretty nasty concussion."

Ben radioed for paramedics as Nick picked up the baby and hurried to the ground level, the paramedics took Jason and they placed him in the same ambulance as Caitlin. Hank was airlifted from the top of the garage, he was in critical condition.

Jake and the rest of the team headed down from the garage top, he received pats on the back from his teammates as they reached the ground and Andy ushered him aside.

"What the hell was that Jake?" Andy asked, his tone scathing.

Jake glared back, "That was called saving lives Cap."

"That was called being rash and impatient," Andy countered, "You could have gotten killed out there. What if Kim hadn't of arrived on time? You should have let the cops deal with this!"

"And what? Wait for him to have a seizure and fall off that ledge? No thanks Cap," Jake retorted, "I know that Johnny's death has affected us all. And we're still reeling from that. Don't tell me what I already know," he said, "But I made a judgment call and I saved that man's life. I saved the baby's life."

Andy's eyes widened in realization, "I know what's going on Jake, I know you wanted to save Johnny. I know you blame yourself. But you can't save everyone Jake, you can't. It's part of the job and if you can't handle that, you're going to need to find another job."

Jake huffed and left as Andy dismissed him, leaving to collect his thoughts for a while.

Later that day at debriefing, Jake sat at the table as Andy went over the events, finally he said, "15:30 pm, Hank McLaughlan dies of his injuries at the hospital, Caitlin and Jason McLaughlan are hospitalized in fair condition."

The whole team nodded in agreement with the events and Nick left the table with a quick, "One sec."

The table grumbled, all the firemen gathered there wanted to do was to get home and sleep. Nick came back with a box and he opened it up, "I know that it doesn't seem like much," he said earnestly, "But I lost a man in the field to. This helps a little, this way, he's always with you."

The team glanced at the box and its contents, it held bracelets with little metal plaques that were engraved, "Johnny Snowden, Ladder 432".

Without further prodding, the team took the bracelets and put them on their wrists. Leah smiled as she thought of the wall outside that recognized the fallen heroes of South Command. Johnny's picture was on a plaque and below it was the fireman's prayer.

_**When I am called to duty, God  
whenever flames may rage,**____**  
Give me the strength to save some life  
Whatever be its age.**_

_**Help me to embrace a little child  
Before it's too late,  
Or some older person  
from the horror of that fate.**_

_**Enable me to be alert  
And hear the weakest shout,  
And quickly and efficiently  
to put the fire out.**_

_**I want to fill my calling  
and give the best in me,  
To guard my neighbor**____**  
And protect his property.**_

_**And if according to Your will  
I have to lose my life,  
Please bless with Your protecting hand  
My children and my wife**_

**I thought the fireman's prayer was a nice touch to the whole chapter :) **

**As for the garage incident, the car crashing through the wall and perching precariously above the street isn't as farfetched as it seems. A similar incident happened in Tulsa, Oklahoma on April 28, 2010 . . . minus the whole dramatic baby-napping and staged car crash incident. Everyone made it out of THAT situation without injury. **


	4. Chapter 4

The team sat in the briefing room, ready for another shift, "Alright ladies and gents," Andy said, "We've got a hockey game tonight against the men and women of the SRU. Let's do our station proud. Hopefully it will be a quiet day today, let's hang around here, hit the gym, fine tune the vehicles, work on paperwork."

The team murmured their agreement and Andy tapped his hand on the table, "Greg, glad you're back."

"Thanks Cap," Greg muttered as he left.

Leah and Jake both left to check on equipment, Nick, Kim and Greg went off to work out in the gym. Ben worked on his paperwork.

Leah nudged Jake, "We haven't hazed Nick yet . . ." she mentioned.

"We're going to need to think of a good surprise for him," Jake grinned as he packed up an air tank and checked a K-bar.

* * *

In a house in the suburbs, two children were playing around in the kitchen.

"I don't think we should do this," the first child said uneasily, "Mommy said we weren't allowed to be in the kitchen unattended."

"It'll be easy. We watch mommy make cookies _all the time_," the second child said as he rooted through the cupboards, "We just need to heat up the oven and put the batter in!"

"We should wait for Melissa to wake up so we can cook them," the first kid said she looked uneasily around the kitchen, "I don't know how to bake cookies."

The second child sneered, "Are you _scared_ Carrie? Are you chicken?"

"I am not chicken Tommy," Carrie yelled as she stomped her foot. She helped Tommy place the dough into the oven and he cranked the oven all the way.

Tommy grinned, "Now the cookies can bake faster! Come on, let's go watch TV or something."

They left the oven unattended, unaware of the gathering smoke in the oven.

Melissa was tired, she stayed up all of last night to work on a paper for her class. She laid on the couch and fell asleep until she smelled the smoke. She woke up quickly and dashed to the living room where Tommy and Carrie were coughing.

"What happened?" she asked, panicked.

Tommy looked up, "We tried to bake cookies."

Melissa looked to the oven where the smoke was quickly issuing from leaks in the door. She opened the oven door to discern what damage was done. Big mistake.

A large flame leaped from the oxygen starved environment of the oven to the oxygen rich environment of the kitchen, burning Melissa's outreached arm in the process. She screamed as the flames filled the kitchen, "Get out of the house!" she yelled at the two children.

Cassie screamed as she saw the flames devour the kitchen, she was disoriented from all the smoke and quickly lost Melissa in the chaos. She ran to the other side of the house and found a small closet where she hid.

* * *

"House fire at 18 Afton Avenue, heavy smoke and injuries reported," the dispatcher's voice came over the PA system.

Ben jumped into the driver's seat of the engine and the rest of the team followed suit. Andy got into his own truck, a fire captain's SUV. It had broken down and due to budget cuts, the project of getting it fixed had to be put on the back burner.

Now it was though, Andy could jump into his truck and follow the engine closely. They arrived at the scene with the ambulance and another truck already there.

The paramedics were busy bandaging up a young woman, her arm was badly burned and she was hysterical as the medics placed an oxygen mask over her mouth.

"What happened in the house?" Jake asked the woman as the medics finished stabilizing here.

Melissa shook her head, "I was babysitting and I guess I fell asleep. When I woke up the house was filled with smoke and when I asked what happened, the kids said they were trying to bake cookies. I opened the oven door and this huge flame shot out."

"Are the kids still in there?" Jake asked, his steely gaze looking Melissa straight in the eye.

Melissa nodded, "I don't know how it happened, I ran out of the house as quick as I could, I thought the kids were with me. I lost track of them, oh God Mister and Mrs. Daniels are going to kill me."

Jake asked one more question, "What are their names?"

"Uh, Cassie and Tommy," Melissa said, "Please, you've got to find them!"

"We will ma'am," Jake said as he nodded to the paramedics and they took her away on a stretcher.

Andy watched as Jake ran up to them again, "Two occupants, Cassie and Tommy, both children and they never got out."

"They're trapped?" Kim asked as she glanced at the heavily smoking structure. The same emotion went through everyone, these kids were trapped in a burning building, and no one wanted to see them dead.

Andy took control of the situation, "Greg, Ben, Matt, take hoses and put some water on this fire," he said, "I want you to head into the kitchen where the source is, Leah, Jake, Kim, Nick you're teamed up with the second engine, find those kids."

"Roger," they all said as they ran off to their respective positions.

The captain of the second fire engine waved them over, "I got the blue prints of the house, according to the baby sitter, the kid's rooms are here and here," he said as he pointed to the rooms that were furthest away from the kitchen, "We'll search them first."

He pointed to Leah and Nick, "You two, what are your names?"

"Nick Harper, sir," Nick replied.

"Leah Kerns," Leah also said.

The man nodded, "You go with Henry Fenway and Jamie Rabin, search the girl's room."

He looked up at Jake and Kim, "Your names?"

"Jake Belford," Jake said.

"Kim Sanders," Kim replied.

"Alright, you two join Gary Silber and Chelsea Ash, search the boy's room," the chief said, "Got it?"

"Roger," they all said and ran off into the house.

Leah placed her face mask on as everyone else did, the place was an inferno, smoke blocked their sight so they could barely see anything in front of them.

"Tommy?" Jake yelled, "Tommy, buddy, are you in here?"

Kim looked under the tables and fallen pieces of debris. No luck. She shook her head at Jake. Gary and Chelsea moved forward to the boy's bedroom, Chelsea looked under the bed while Gary looked in the closet, "Tommy?"

Meanwhile, Leah and Nick searched the other rooms of the house, "Cassie?" Leah yelled.

Nick found a hallway closet, "Leah," he nodded towards the closet, "I can't open it, give me a hand."

Leah nodded and they both wrenched the wooden door open, a very sooty form of Cassie looked up at them, "W-who are you?"

"I'm Leah, I'm a fireman," Leah said as she held out her hand for Cassie, "I'm here to get you out of here, come on."

Cassie nodded, one short jerk of her head, and then she let Leah pick her up, Leah looked towards Nick and they left the house, Henry and Jamie following behind.

They passed Ben and Matt who were busy putting water on the fire, Greg was busy making sure extinguished places wouldn't reignite. The smoke was thick, choking anyone who didn't have an air source.

Ben finally got the blaze under control with the help of the men from the other engine, Greg smothered the rest of the smoldering pieces as the fire died.

Leah ran outside with Cassie, taking her to the paramedics, just as that happened, a car rushed towards the scene and halted with a screech. The mother and father both got out and rushed towards the scene, only stopped by the police officers containing it.

"Our children are in there!" the father yelled at the officer, Andy ran up and ordered the officer to allow the parents in. The two parents ran to the paramedics as Leah backed away, Cassie sobbed and fell into her parents out stretched arms.

The medics had to separate the parents and child so they could place an oxygen mask on the girl.

"She most likely has smoke inhalation from the fire," one of the medics said as he listened to Cassie's breathing, "We need to take her to the hospital to make sure she's okay."

They both nodded as they looked towards their burning house, "What about Tommy?" the mother asked, tears in her eyes.

"Mr. and Mrs. Daniels?" Andy walked up, "I'm Captain Montag, the incident commander's this way," he said as he led them to the other captain, "My team's doing everything they can to rescue Tommy, do you know where he might hide or go in the house?"

"We taught our children not to hide during a fire and do whatever they can to get out of the house," Mrs. Daniels said.

Mr. Daniels looked up at the second story, "They have a play room up there, I always find Tommy up there at night, he sneaks out."

Andy nodded and spoke into his radio, "Jake, Kim, do you copy?"

"Roger, roger," Kim spoke into the radio as they were about to exit the house, "Tommy's not in his room Cap."

"Change of plans," Andy replied, "There's a play room upstairs, the father thinks Tommy might be hiding up there," he waited for Kim's response.

"Roger," Kim stated and turned to Jake, "Let's head upstairs," she said.

"Ben, Matt, how's our fire doing?" Andy asked as he looked at the house, it still had some heavy smoke billowing out of broken windows and open doors.

Matt answered, "It's contained, we're working on putting the last bit of flames out," he said, "Looks like it originated from the oven."

"Alright, you keep on that," Andy said and he turned to Leah, "How's the girl?"

"She has smoke inhalation and some minor burns," Leah said as she watched the medics wheel her away, "She'll make it. Pretty heavy smoke in there Cap, if Tommy stays any longer . . ."

"That's what I'm worried about," Andy said as he stared at the house, "That's what I'm worried about."

* * *

**So . . . I meant to put this up last night, but then my internet went haywire and I had to Scorpio . . . err, I mean "fix" the modem for a few minutes. But I got it :) and I'm posting it, see? **

**Anyway, I forgot Greg (the fireman, not the sergeant) wasn't in the fic last chapter, so I kinda fabricated a "sick day" for him. And that Fire Captains have their own SUVs so they wouldn't BE in the engine (I should have known because I always see the fire department hanging around my local grocery store, getting stuff for their BBQs and what not, and they always have a captain's car behind them :P. Well, I'll write soon. **


End file.
